


Take care of you

by PerriewinkleNerdie



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 10:53:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20759186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerriewinkleNerdie/pseuds/PerriewinkleNerdie
Summary: Sickness gets even the best of them





	Take care of you

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello, hello!   
This idea was wandering in my mind for a week now, so I’m happy I got around to writing it.  
Enjoy! <3

To say that Claire was confused was an understatement. She spent the last forty-five minutes looking for Erhan, but she had no luck in finding him so far. She asked everyone, including Zaid, Ines and even Harper, but none of them saw him that day.

Nurses, who began talking to her again after they found the truth and apologized for acting so immaturely, haven’t seen him either. The only lead she had was the fact that Rafael saw him near the ER, entering the supply closet, coughing slightly.

She decided to go to Naveen, maybe Ethan was with him, or his mentor knew where he was.

On her break she grabbed two cups of tea, a box of cookies, and made her way towards the part of the hospital under construction.

Naveen was laying in bed, deep in thoughts. When he heard the door open, he turned towards her and his face lit up.

“Claire! How are you? I haven’t seen you in a while!”

“I was here yesterday with Ethan.” She laughed as she handed him the cup with warm liquid.

“You know how slowly the time goes by in here. It could have been a week and I wouldn’t have known.”

“Naveen? I actually have an important and urgent question to ask you.”

“Let me guess. You have no idea where Ethan is.” A look of victory and satisfaction was visible on his face.

“Well… yes. How did you know?”

“You are tense. Uneasy, definitely worried. Also, your eyes are a little dull.”

“And from all of that you deduced that I’m looking for Ethan? Seriously?”

“I am a diagnostician, Claire. Besides, it’s not the first time I’ve seen the combination of those things. They always mean longing and anxiety from not being able to find the other person.”

“Really? How do you know so much about that?”

“Because Ethan has the same look on his face when you’re not with him or when he isn’t able to find you.”

There it was. Her and Ethan. Ethan and her. She didn’t know where exactly they stood as far as their relationship went.

They kissed. Twice now, their lips met a couple of times, and it was all because of the tension that was between them. That electricity that filled the air every time they were close.

He was hard to read. Even harder to understand, but he let her in from time to time, and it was in these moments that she had the hardest time with stopping herself from wrapping her arms around him and simple hugging him.

He was a great kisser, but she could see that he really needed a hug.

“Do you know where he is?” she was getting worried, he never disappeared for so long.

“He was here this morning, looking like he went through hell and back. If I had to guess, he is sick. But you, of all people, should know that he is stubborn. So unless something really bad started happening to him, he is still here. You could come by his house after your shift is over, just to make sure he’s still alive.” He tries to joke, but they both knew that Ethan had a hard time taking care of himself, putting the wellbeing of others before his own.

“Thanks, Naveen. You keep the rest of the cookies.” She smiled at him before walking back to the busier part of the hospital.

Claire asked a few other doctors if they haven’t seen him. turns out one of the other attendings took over his patients a few hours ago, he said he had an urgent matter to attend to.

\-------------

The evening came, it was getting dark when she reached his apartment. Because they often worked until early hours of the morning, and all of the Naveen’s files were there, he gave her his spare keys.

She tried not to overuse it. In fact, it was the first time she used the key, not knowing if he was inside or not, but Naveen’s and Rafael’s words were ringing in the back of her head.

She slowly opened the door, looking inside to see if her was there. He wasn’t in the living room nor the kitchen. She didn’t know if she should go any further, but his shoes were by the door, his coat was on the hanger and his keys were in a bowl on the shelf.

What drew her attention was a pool of something on the floor. While it could have been just water, she couldn’t take chances on guessing, so she went inside, closed the door and came closer to see what the substance was.

Upon inspection she discovered it was _puke_. This concerned her, all of that combined gave her the idea that he was indeed sick. Even more than she previously thought.

It was in that exact moment that Jenner came running towards her, nudging her leg with his nose and moving towards Ethan’s bedroom. He wanted her to follow him.

She went to the room at the end of the hall. The sight made her freeze.

Ethan was laying on his bed, face down, vomit on the comforter. His breathing was ragged, uneven and uneasy, and, from what she could see, he was sweating.

She came close and put her hand on his back. He was dangerously warm, his fever too high.

Claire went to the kitchen for cleaning utensils and got to work.

She cleaned as much as she could from the bed, rolling Ethan over so she could change the bedding. Once that was done, she went to his closet to grab a fresh T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. She changed him into clean clothes gently and got him as comfortable as she could.

Then she got him a glass of water on his bedside table, a bin by the bed in case he needed to throw up again, and a box of tissues.

She left the door slightly open, so she could hear if he woke up, before leaving him to clean up in the living room.

After that was done too, she went to the kitchen and gathered the ingredients for a chicken soup.

Being raised in the family in which both parents worked, she had to learn how to cook for everyone, and she could say, not so humbly, that she was good at it.

Leaving the broth to simmer, she decided to take Jenner for a walk. She had to stop by the pharmacy anyway.

Claire walked into Ethan’s room again. He was still sleeping, hasn’t moved a centimeter away from the position she last saw him in.

She left a note by the glass of water and leaned down, kissing his forehead tenderly, before grabbing Jenner and walking out.

Thirty minutes later she walked back inside, released Jenner from his leash and went to the kitchen to check on the soup, prepared the medicine for her newest patient.

He was still asleep when she came to his room, his arms were in different position though. _Good. He was coming around._ She left the medicine on the nightstand and took the note back, as it was now useless.

She went back to the living room, Jenner by her side. A big pile of paperwork was sitting on the coffee table, and since she had nothing better to do, she decided to do what she was able to do, for him.

Another two hours passed before he woke up. His head was pounding, his nose was stuffed, and his throat was dry and hurting. His eyes registered a glass of water on his bedside table. And medicine. Then he noticed that he wasn’t in the same position as when he passed out. His bedding was different. He remembered vomiting right before his vision got blurred. And those were _not_ the clothes he had on that day.

Someone took care of him.

He took his medicine, drank the water and slowly stood up from his bed, walking uneasily towards the living room.

The soft sound of music, quietly playing in the background, reached his ears and the delicious smell of food made his mouth water.

There, on the couch, was Claire, looking down, petting Jenner on his head before going back to work. _His work._

She was doing his paperwork for him.

Claire, as though she sensed his presence, looked up and their eyes met.

“Ethan! Good, you’re awake. How are you feeling, are you hungry?” she made her way to him, took his arm in her hands and, when he nodded, she led him towards the table, helping him sit down.

“You do know I can walk on my own, right?”

“Ethan. You almost fell when you came in here. I found you basically unconscious. So please, stop putting on a brave face and let yourself be human for once.”

She placed a bowl oh hot soup in front of him, grabbing some for herself too.

“Claire, that is delicious.” His eyes got that sparkle back, and his skin gained some color.

“Thanks. I was the designated cook in my family.” A blush bloomed on her cheeks.

They finished eating in silence. She placed their dishes in the dishwasher and turned around to face him.

“Couch or bed.”

“Wh-what?” he stuttered, confused, his cheeks flushed red.

“Couch or bed? Where do you want to rest?” she made herself clear, but it didn’t escape her attention how flustered he got by the slight innuendo.

“Oh. Couch, I think. I want to talk to you.” he avoided her gaze, embarrassed by the direction his mind went to.

Her hands touched his arm delicately, helping him stand up. He leaned on her and they made their way to the couch.

As she was lowering him so he could sit down, something went wrong. His head started spinning, he lost his balance and grabbed onto the closest thing he could reach to prevent himself from falling.

It just so happened that this thing was _her._

He pulled her on top of him, their bodies flush against one another. His arms wrapped themselves around her, trying to protect her from any harm, even when he was sick. Their faces were centimeters from each other.

For a moment they froze, nothing happened. And then Ethan, very slowly and deliberately, touched his lips to hers.

Just as fast as he did it, he leaned back.

“I…”

“Ethan. If you say that you shouldn’t have done that, I will walk out the door.” she threatened, both playfully and seriously.

“No. It’s not that. Though I was about to say that I really shouldn’t have kissed you now. and not because I don’t want to. Believe me, I don’t want anything else in the world. But I am sick, and I don’t want you to be sick too. When I’m healthy again, I promise you, I’ll kiss you all you want.” He looked into her eyes, moving his hands to grip her head.

“Are you sure it’s you and not the medicine talking?” she asked, teasing him, but in reality, she wanted to be sure that she wasn’t getting her hopes up.

“Are you questioning the right of my mind, Rookie?” he stroked her cheek softly.

“Yes. Tell me this again in the morning and I’ll believe you.”

“The morning can’t come soon enough.”

They settled on the couch, she finished the paperwork.

“Thank you, Claire. You didn’t have to take care of me.” _Not many ever did._

“I care about you, Ethan. Of course I’ll take care of you.” she held his hand reassuringly.

“Now, let’s get you to bed. I already messaged Dr. Emery that you’re sick and that you’d be gone for a couple of days. You have time to get well.”

He was in bed and he wanted nothing more than to pull her in by his side and burry his face in her neck. But he knew he had to wait, so he opted for kissing her hand tenderly.

She smiled, softly and wistfully, and leaned down to kiss his forehead. A warm feeling of affection spread in his chest.

“Goodnight, Ethan. I’ll sleep on the couch, call out if you need anything.”

“Goodnight, Claire.”

\------

The next morning he was woken up by the feeling of a soft kiss on his cheek.

“Morning.” She whispered, smiling at his sleepy state, ruffling his hair.

“Morning.” He reached his hand out to touch her nose, her cheek, her hair.

“I’m heading out to the hospital. You go back to sleep. _Rest._ I am forbidding you from doing anything work-related. You have pancakes in the kitchen and there is some tea for you to drink. I’ll come by after my shift is over. Remember to take your medicine, and if anything happened, _if you need me_, call me. Oh, and I walked Jenner, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

His mind stopped for a second. She thought of everything. _She was everything he ever wanted and more_.

She stood up and went towards the door. He got out of bed and went after her.

“Claire?” he called out when she was about to walk through the door.

“Ethan?” she had a shy smile on her lips.

“Once I’m healthy…”

“Yes?” her eyes flashed when she remembered their conversation last night.

_“I’m going to kiss you like you deserve to be kissed.”_


End file.
